Question: In the passages below a harlot symbolizes something. The title on her head is "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." One of the titles is "the mother of harlots". This suggests that there are other harlots that have sprung from this harlot.

This is more curiosity then anything else...but what are opinions on what this represents?

Rev 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, Rev 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Rev 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Rev 17:5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Rev 17:6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. Rev 17:7 But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. Rev 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Rev 17:9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. Rev 17:10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. Rev 17:11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. Rev 17:12 "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. Rev 17:13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. Rev 17:14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful."

Many eschatologists believe that the reference to the seven hills means Rome - specifically the Roman Catholic Church seated at The Vatican. There is conjecture that the next pope will lead Catholics away from true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and toward a false religion, a religion that will support the Anti-Christ when he is revealed.

This shouldn't come as a surprise as many people believe that praying to Mary and the saints practiced by the Catholic Church is heresy since prayer is a form of worship, and Scripture makes it clear that we are to worship God alone.

Also, when the Anti-Christ appears, he will be seen as a savior for a world in utter turmoil. He will be seen as a very positive figure, not as the Beast described in Revelation. In time, his true Satanic nature will be revealed, but there will be those who remain faithful to him and continue to hate God.

Hi DouglasKC, I struggled through this question just yesterday myself. As a person who took a very long sojourn through various religions, it is my conclusion the reference is not to anything any one has yet named. I am not a theologian etc. Just a layperson with an opinion.

Yesterday as I struggled to untangle this ‘mystery’ a particular phrase came to the forefront for me. “Sodom and Egypt,” the phrase is used in Revelation to describe the city where the two prophets shall lay dead in the streets. In the Bible the city of Sodom was a place of all sorts of sexual decadence's and evils. The Bereans believe the reference is to Jerusalem and the Jews. BUT, I do not see in modern times where the Jews fit this thought in the city of Jerusalem.

Biblically, when the Bible refers to whores and harlots...it is not just women. In the times the Bible was written it included both men, women, boys, and girls.

For the Bible to call this place the descriptors of “Sodom and Egypt,” if must be a great vile in the Holy City. Going back to a few rabbinical studies, Abraham and Hagar's son, Ishmael, is not a Jew. According to rabbinical studies Hagar was a Pharaoh’s daughter. The Bible is mute on this point other than to lower her status to the level of Sarah's handmaid and elevate Saraii to Sarah(princess). Ishmael is said to the the line of the Arabs and the line from which Mohammad arose. Ishmael is also recorded as giving rise to 12 tribes.

Only one of the ‘great’ religions still uses ‘sex’ as both punishment and prize. Morsi paid ‘thugs’ to go into the protests to rape this past weekend in the name of religion.

As I chased some of this down and rolled through some of the studies of theologians claiming it is Rome or the USA etc. For me it seems, it became very clear the Harlot etc. is Islam, the familial line is told to us. “in the great city of Sodom and Egypt.”

Chasing this down took me about 5 hours yesterday morning, so I didn't come to this “revelation” easily. And as it is contrary to hundreds of theological studies as well take if for what you will. But the more I consider it...the more accurately if fits.

The infidelity of the harlot isn’t sex, but trade (and presumably political entanglements). Now people have been saying, “This is it! This is the time of Revelation!” for nearly 2,000 years and at some times in history, they’ve had better arguments (fall of Rome, the reformation, the black death) than now, so I don’t mean to be joining in that chorus. But if I were to HAVE to say,”This here, today, is the harlot,” I’d have to say Wall Street, mother of all the other stock exchanges.

These exchanges are where all the world’s trade happens.
They have motivated GATT, Agenda 21, the Euro, and all other losses of national sovereignty.
Unless you’re totally amoral, you lose relative to everyone else, because you’ll undervalue an evil business.
It’s at the world capitol (Manhattan, home of the United Nations)

Now, I think all the stuff in Revelations has theological, not circumstantial meaning, so I would disregard this, but it’s too wierd not to mention:
the mascot of Wall Street is a bull.
And don’t even get me started on the dark prophet (Mohammed, and his horn, Obama)

Rev 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Islam is in perdition right now. It had its great time, was warred against & minimized, and is in ascendancy again. Consider how we conduct ‘war’ against the religion of peace.

This whole paranoia of Catholicism made a whole lot more sense when “reformers” could claim that Catholicism was hindering people from joining their own sect. Now that Catholicism is the only shred of religion left in Europe, it seems down right ridiculous to terrified that Europe should embrace Catholicism, even if it isn’t your favorite sect, doesn’t it?

Too bad that the Bible is so inexcusably unclear on this point that honest, truth-seeking men have been forced to argue about it for centuries!

I means: Would have been so difficult for St. John to have been just a little bit more specific here? I've heard so many claims that the "Harlot" is, e.g., the Federal Reserve, NATO, the European Union, etc. It's enough to drive you to despair!

According to Strong’s the word used in Revelationis “oros,” which can only mean “mountains”. Rome doesn’t sit on any mountains; it is surrounded by seven hills (”bounos” in Greek). On the other hand, Mecca, is surrounded by seven mountains (Jabal Quba, Jabal al Qinaa, Jabal Li Aali, Jabal Jifan, Jabal Jijad, Jabal Qubais, and Jabal Hindi).

Just a thought regarding the modern era repeating the ways of “Sodom and Egypt”. Sodom, all know what the deviant behavior is, Egypt during Moses time ‘killed babies’. Isn't ‘planned parenthood’ international?

Isn't Christ called the bridegroom in a spiritual sense? Well the harlot and her daughters represents the deceived masses readying themselves for a wedding out of season. Notice the first Scripture says ...."Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, waters is symbolic of peoples. The church is called the 'bride' of Christ, and IF she goes for the first Jesus on the earth that makes her a harlot. Christ told the disciples in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 the first sign of His return was mass deception. And deception is rampant.

ALL Protestan theorists use Reveleations to continue their attack on the Catholic Church. Many then go on to remove themselves from any coming tribulations, by inventing the Rapture, which necessarily denies the 2nd coming of Christ, by injecting a third. There have been many Anti-Christs through history. The Bible never refers to the singular, Anti-Christ.

But of course there have been many "Anti-Christs", but there has yet to be in this flesh age an instead of Christ. And he has been named in the singular, and it was he and he alone that tempted Christ. And Christ said all but the 'very elect' would be deceived. Paul says those of the 'very elect' were chosen before the foundation of this world. (That means before the casting down - overthrow of the first rebel in what Peter calls the world (age) that WAS.)

The devil is going to get tossed out here on earth by Michael, with those sons of God, of Genesis 6, and the ancient ones of Jude. Christ said it would be again as in the days of Noe (Noah), we are not there yet. The tribulation is that all but the very elect will believe this supernatural being is Jesus coming to 'save'!!!! When Christ walked in a flesh body upon this earth as the final perfect blood sacrifice there was NO Catholic Church.

“Many eschatologists believe that the reference to the seven hills means Rome - specifically the Roman Catholic Church seated at The Vatican.”
.
The big hole in this anti-Catholic interpretation is that the hill the Vatican is built on is NOT one of the 7 hills of Rome— Vatican Hill is on the opposite side of the Tiber. It appears that your self-styled “eschatologists” need to do their geography homework—or find another object for their bigotry than the Catholic Church.
.http://www.catholic.com/tracts/hunting-the-whore-of-babylon

The ‘sodom and egypt’ in Revelation refers to a great city that has suffered the transgressions.

REvelation 11:8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

It is an interesting passage on several counts. When God occupied the city it is the “Holy City,” but the verse clearly calls it the great city, yet in the same breath tells us it is where our Lord was crucified. So that means as long as ‘Sodom and Egypt’ occupy the the city...it is no longer the Holy City.

The big hole in this anti-Catholic interpretation is that the hill the Vatican is built on is NOT one of the 7 hills of Rome Vatican Hill is on the opposite side of the Tiber. It appears that your self-styled eschatologists need to do their geography homeworkor find another object for their bigotry than the Catholic Church.

How many continents are there? The deception is said to be world wide not limited to a few hills in Rome. .

The sodom and egypt in Revelation refers to a great city that has suffered the transgressions. REvelation 11:8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. It is an interesting passage on several counts. When God occupied the city it is the Holy City, but the verse clearly calls it the great city, yet in the same breath tells us it is where our Lord was crucified. So that means as long as Sodom and Egypt occupy the the city...it is no longer the Holy City.

Also note whose bodies will lie in the street of the great city. When these two are killed, the count down begins for the return of Christ.

Now just as an aside Ezekiel 16 is an interesting chapter about Jerusalem. Harlot is used throughout this chapter regarding Jerusalem and also it is the most favorite place in all the universe of the Heavenly Father. This chapter gives what could be called companion or background as to what John penned in Revelation.

"The classic interpretation of Revelation 17 as offered by the Protestant reformers and many since is that the harlot, the wicked woman who is the symbol of religious power in this chapter , is none other than the Roman Catholic Church in its **apostate** form."10

"While the reformers identified it with the Roman Catholic Church of their day, contemporary Protestant interpreters tend to qualify this identification. Rather than the Roman Catholic Church specifically, the religious entity that is portrayed seems to be a world religion which could conceivably embrace all branches of ChristianityRoman, Greek Orthodox, and Protestantas well as non-Christian religions."

“The infidelity of the harlot isnt sex, but trade (and presumably political entanglements).”

Adultery, in the prophetic sense is usually a metaphor for spiritual infidelity, such as when Israel’s idolatry was describing as “whoring after other gods” many times in the Old Testament. Though, it could be both what you describe, and idolatry, in the sense that people do “worship money” nowadays.

Yes, read Ezekiel 16 but with an eye to what? Israel here is portrayed as a wife who became a pagan temple prostitute. or An adultress wife. Again, I do not see the Jews fitting this discription. But under an islamic viewing of the scripture...were back to islam.

Ezekiel 16:2 "Son man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. ...... God called sodomy an abomination.... The question of this thread was

Question: In the passages below a harlot symbolizes something. The title on her head is "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." One of the titles is "the mother of harlots". This suggests that there are other harlots that have sprung from this harlot.

Babylon means 'confusion', Ezekiel 16 tells why and the who caused/allowed the conditions that made Jerusalem... become spiritually speaking of Sodom and Egypt. And what God's judgment and actions He would send or allow because of His peoples harlotry... spiritually speaking adultery.

In this modern era there has been a push/shove, to celebrate diversity, when actually what has been encouraged is to embrace all cultures regardless if that culture is ungodly. Which was the history of the house of Jacob, after the civil war they became the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Remember in Revelation 1:16 Christ is described ....out of His mouth went a sharp twoedge sword; That means it prunes both those of the left and the right. Meaning there is a whole lot of housekeeping needed even on the 'right'. How many religions are represented in Jerusalem today?

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